New Hubs and Brakes! My Custom socket. now I have to bleed.

[Paintworx]

I just finished swapping out the TieDown Engineering brakes on my 07 521VX tandem trailer to new Vortex setup. I am glad that is almost over. The castle nuts were extremely tight and the way the axel bracket is placed it is not possible to get a nut on it to use a impact and the limited space is a recipe for busted knuckles. I lost my patience after using heat, liquid wrench and a 18” long wrench pushed with my foot while laying on my back. It finally broke loose and I thought. Well… maybe that one was just over tightened and the rest will be easier. Not the case so I spent 30minutes grinding a hole in a socket and used the impact to Break em loose. This was a game changer and really made the next 3 much less frustrating.

Now I have to bleed and after doing some research on here I am a bit confused. Most posts are saying that there is one caliper in the set with a bleeder that will cycle all the fluid from the system through. I have a blended on all four calipers. There is a metal line running down the starboard frame rail that T’s off across to the port calipers. Does it matter which order they are bled? I am sure there is a better way than just randomly hitting each one.

thanks for all the advice. Here’s my socket. If anyone has a hub swap out coming up and wants to borrow the socket I would be happy to send it to ya and you can return when finished. It’s not pretty but it was a pain to make and worth every second
. 92173CE4-4EE1-49C8-B20B-77BC76199A5E.jpeg
looks like the pic is upside down. But I’m sure you get the idea.

[Maackbass]

Great idea on the socket! General rule of thumb for bleeding brakes is start at the caliper furthest from the master cyclinder and work your way forward. If you have the equipment run compressed air through the rigid brake line from the bow of the trailer before you start. You may see some junk come out the other end. If you have the newer style calipers that have 2 bleeders bleed from the top bleeder since most of the air will accumulate on the top side.

[Blair B]

Start bleeding at the caliper that is furthest down the brake line from the master cylinder, and then work your way to the closest. If you have a power bleeder it will make your life easy.

[Paintworx]

maak. My calipers only have one bleeder. It looks like the calipers they use are exactly the same for both sides and this puts the bleeders on top on the starboard side and down on port side. They do have a brass plug that seems like it could possibly be swapped with the bleeders on the port side and that way I could get them on top. I’m just not sure if that is how they are designed.


I tracked down the bleeding instructions from Tie down and they say to do the closest first. Everything I see on here when I search says start with the closest. Not sure if it because I have a different brand. I really only have a tie down actuator since I put the new setup on. Anyway. I went through all 4 of em starting with furthest away and then went back through again in the opposite direction with a pneumatic bleeder. I was pretty confident that I got all the air out until I hooked up the truck and tried em out.

I have had this boat for 3 years and I don’t think the brakes have ever worked. And…. They still don’t. I drove around the neighborhood stopping and starting to push the actuator in, and then trying to back up without hooking up the electrical to see if they were working. I can feel them kinda working but barely.

I work on a lot of boats in my shop and when I try to move one around without hooking up the power they usually lock up to the point that my truck tires will spin (gravel lot). The way my brakes are now it is no problem backing up and hardly noticeable.

How strong should the brakes be on my trailer?

[Maackbass]

Well aparently Tie down thinks otherwise haha so go with their recommendation. The brakes should want to at least nearly lock up or lock up if everything is working properly. Thats why theres a reverse lockout solinoid and also the keyway lockout The brakes not working well could be many things. Bad master cylinder, calipers need to be rebuilt or replaced, pads at the end of their life or even collapsed inner walls of the rubber brake hoses. I need to replace mine soon myself. Ranger now sells their hubs with new calipers and pads. Believe it or not the set is cheaper than a hub alone from Ranger go figure. If it were me Id let it sit since its been through a few cycles and go back a bleed the system again. Any air will show up. Bubbles in the reservoir may even show up if something is not tight. If not time to start hunting gremlins

[Maackbass]

A good indicator of air/leak or bad hoses is a clunky feel when stopping and starting while towing. It will clunk hard when you accelerate after a stop. It should be more of a controlled resistance when the surge accuator comes forward

[Paintworx]

Well….. when I was hitting the brakes to cycle the actuator it had a definite clink slam when accelerating and the actuator pulled back out. I figured that was normal. Sounds like it’s not? So do I need a new actuator too? Should I get another Tie Down Engineering or is there something better?

[Maackbass]

If you got a good bleed on the system it may be the master cylinder is toast. So heres the drag. The only hope is doing a search for a rebuild kit as they no longer make that unit. I wasnt able to find a rebuild kit. Its a costly fix through ranger because its no longer available. AND the new master cylinder units do not fit in the old tongue. A whole new tongue assembly is needed. BOAT=Break Out Another Thousand haha. Good thing is its a better setup all the way around. If you order one ask for the hardware and swing away pin. New breakaway cables if needed too.

[Paintworx]

I just ordered the rebuild kit from Ranger for $400. Ouch. I can see stuff online that is cheaper but i am afraid it will not be exactly right. They sent me new hubs and brake assemblies that i just put on and it came with everything i needed ti make the new dexter stuff work and it required a bunch of stuff that I would have never known i needed so sometimes its worth just paying a little extra to know its the right stuff. Any advice/tips on the actuator rebuild?

[TopgunZ521C]

The bleeding of vortex hubs with one bleeder is called daisy chain i did mine on my 2014 z521c after 5 yrs put all new seals and bearings and races never a problem going on 8 yrs now. They say in the warranty on vortex maintenance free for 10 years but inspection at 5 years and any needed replacement parts.

[Paintworx]

The Vortex hub instructions also show a grease fitting on the back of the hub to add grease, but my hubs have no fittings so I am not sure how I am supposed to add grease. Do they expect them to be disposable after the 7 years? I should have drilled and installed zeros before I installed them. Maybe bearing buddies will fit?

[howieranger]

TopgunZ521c your trailer came with Vault hubs from UFP. On the Vortex hubs the grease fitting is under the cap in the end of the spindle,.

[krindgen]

maak. My calipers only have one bleeder. It looks like the calipers they use are exactly the same for both sides and this puts the bleeders on top on the starboard side and down on port side. They do have a brass plug that seems like it could possibly be swapped with the bleeders on the port side and that way I could get them on top. I’m just not sure if that is how they are designed.


I tracked down the bleeding instructions from Tie down and they say to do the closest first. Everything I see on here when I search says start with the closest. Not sure if it because I have a different brand. I really only have a tie down actuator since I put the new setup on. Anyway. I went through all 4 of em starting with furthest away and then went back through again in the opposite direction with a pneumatic bleeder. I was pretty confident that I got all the air out until I hooked up the truck and tried em out.

I have had this boat for 3 years and I don’t think the brakes have ever worked. And…. They still don’t. I drove around the neighborhood stopping and starting to push the actuator in, and then trying to back up without hooking up the electrical to see if they were working. I can feel them kinda working but barely.

I work on a lot of boats in my shop and when I try to move one around without hooking up the power they usually lock up to the point that my truck tires will spin (gravel lot). The way my brakes are now it is no problem backing up and hardly noticeable.

How strong should the brakes be on my trailer?

Depends on how bleeding, if you're pushing the fluid, using the MC as the pump, I think you need to go the closest caliper. If power bleeding from the caliper start at the furthers caliper. My MM trailer had the one bleeder at the last caliper, but I couldn't get a complete bleed on each caliper. MM sent me banjo bolts for each caliper so each had a bleeder. I seem to do the best using the MC as a pump rather than using a power bleeder. I'm always working alone so that may be the reason.